Electric-lighting system for railway-cars.



PATENTED MAY 21, i907.

. 'WJJ. BOHAN. I ELECTRIC LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY CARS.

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PATENTED MAY 21, 1907:.

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.No. 854,072. PATENTED. MAY 21,' 1907.

' I W. J. BOHAN.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED 111:0. 3, 1906.

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UNITED STATES PATENT onnion.

WILLIAM'J. BOHAN, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1907.

Application filed December 3,1906. Serial No. 346,000.

systems for railway cars, and has for its object to improve the same in the several particulars hereinafter noted.

The invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

More particularly stated, this invention relates to electrical generating apparatus for cars in which the electrical generator is driven and driven from the car axles.

from a car axle. Apparatus of this character, which have hitherto been proposed, have been of two kinds, towit, first these in which the generators have been located within the cars and directly supported by the car bodies and driven from the car axles; and second, those in which the generators have been mounted below the car body, either on the truck frame or on the bottom of the car body In the first noted arrangement, the generator partakes of the vertical and lateral vibratory movements of the car body, and hence, it has been found impracticable to drive the same from a car axle. The location of the generator underneath the car body is a very undesirable arrangement for many reasons. When thus located it is exposed to wind, dust, rain, snow and to injury from flying stone, coal and other hard substances which are set in motion by the air disturbance produced by a rapidly moving train. Moreover, on account of the limitations of space within which the generator is necessarily confined, and also on account of exposure, the generators of standard construction can not be employed and extremely expensive generators of special de sign are demanded. The methods of mounting these generators underneath the car body and the devices necessarily used to protect them must be complicated and expensive. Furthermore, generators located beneath the car body are inaccessible when the car is in motion, and at all times are extremely difficult to get at for the purpose of repair, and when extensive repairs are necessary the generators must be removed at considerable ex pense and inconvenience.

In accordance with my invention, the generator is located inside of the car body and supported from one of the car trucks, preferably directly from the truck frame, and is driven from one of the truck axles. This arrangement. accomplishes many desirable results. In the first place, it locates the generator where easy access may be had thereto at all times, either when the car is in motion or at rest, and thus makes it a comparatively easy matter to repair the generator, when repairs are required. It places the generator where it is notexposed to the elements, such as wind, rain and snow or to hard flying materials, and also makes it possible to keep the generator at the temperature of the interior of the car body. It'also makes it an easy matter to provide a simple and eilicient motion-transmitting mechanism between one of the axles and the armature of the generator.

To carry the generator within the body of the car and to support the samefrom the truck frame as above stated, I provide a metal frame which may be made of cast iron, Wrought iron, steel, malleable iron, or other malleable metal, and proj ect the samethrough suitable openings in the bottom of the car, which openings may be easily closed by suitable flexible diaphragms of canvas, leather, rubber or any other suitable material.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a view partly in plan and partly in horizontal section on the irregular line 00 00 of Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section on the irregular line a x of Fig. 3, some parts being broken away; and Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section taken approximately on the irregular line 00 0: of Fi 1.

The car illustrated is of standard construc tion, and of the parts thereof it is desirable for the purposes of this case to note the car body 1 which is mounted in the usual way upon trucks, only one of which is shown, the truck shown being a six-wheel truck, although, of

course, a four-wheeled truck might be employed. Of the parts of the truck, the nu- I meral 2 indicates the wheels, the numeral 3 frame.

the axles, the numeral 4 so-called wheel pieces or beams, the numeral 5 the truck transom and the numeral 6 the truck end pieces, which parts are of standard construction.

As already stated, the dynamo is of standard construction; and of the parts thereof it is desirable to note only the field supporting body casting or frame 7, and the armature shaft 8, which latter is mounted in suitable bearings on the former, and is provided at its projecting end with pulleys 9.

As illustrated in the drawings, the dynamo support consists of a sub base casting a of yoke-like form to which the dynamo frame or casting 7 is bolted or otherwise rigidly secured. The legs or down-turned portions of this sub base casting a rest upon and are rigidly united, by bolts or other fastenings, to bracket castings b and c. The castings or brackets bare designed, primarily, to support the dynamo, sub base-a; and secondarily, to serve as wheel guard members of the truck frame. The said brackets b are laterally spaced apart and extend from the truck frame end piece 6 to the truck frame transom 5 to which they are rigidly secured by bolts or other suitable devices. Also, said brackets b have extended arms b that project transversely of the truck .and are bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to the respective wheel pieces or beams 4 of the truck frame.

The brackets 0 rest principally upon and are secured to the transom 5 of the truck As shown, the forward extremities of the brackets b are interposed between said transom 5 and the brackets c. The sub base castings a is united with all of the said brackets b and c and ties them together forming an arch that spans the center sills of the car. The car flooring is cut out at 1 to clear the dynamo sub base a and other parts of the dynamo supporting frame, and to allow for motion of the truck in traversing curves and to permit the free vibratory movements of the car body.

From inspection of the drawings, it will be seen that the dynamo, by the means described, is located over the truck and near to one end of the car and, furthermore, over that portion of the truck that is nearest to the end of the car. It will, of course, be understood that the form, dimensions and arrangement of the members which constitute the generator supporting frame will have to be modified to suit truck frames of various kinds and designs.

Preferably, power is transmitted from the outermost axle 3 to the armature shaft 8, by means of two belts. To this end, the said axle 3 is provided with two rigidly secured driving pulleys 10. Each driving belt 11 runs over one of the driving pulleys 10 and cured to a common shaft 16 that is directly mounted in the said brackets b. The said idle guide pulleys 12 and 13, it will be noted, are so arranged as to compensate for any motion of the truck springs, thus keeping the tension of the belt substantially uniform under vibratory movements of the truck frame, with respect to the wheels and axle.

With my improved arrangement, advantage can be taken of the usual adjusting devices with which the ordinary standard types of stationary generators or dynamos are equipped, which advantage is entirely lost with the above noted earlier forms of axle driven light generators.

With the arrangement described, when it is necessary to remove the truck to which the generator is applied it is only necessary to unbolt or disconnect the sub base casting a from the castings or brackets b and 0. Then, when the body of the car is jacked up, the transverse portion of said sub base casting or bracket a will be supported by the intermediate car sills, or, preferably, it may be supported directly from the car floor by means of timbers or bars inserted between the car floor and the transverse portion of said sub base casting or bracket.

From the foregoing it will be evident that the generator can be reached and repaired while the car is in motion, and the person or persons who perform this work can do it efficiently and in comfort and safety.

If it is desired to make each car a unit, a size of generator may be used suitable for the quantity of current required. By the use of a large generator having a larger current capacity, if desired, current may be supplied for other cars than the one in which the generator is located. For instance, a generator of suitable capacity could be placed in the head end of the baggage car which would furnish current for an entire train.

By the use of two belts for driving the generator, the liability of the failure of the generator to operate owing to the breaking of a belt, may be reduced one half. 7

The weight of the generator and the supporting frame is and should be transferred to the truck frame as near as possible to the center of the wheel base of the truck. This will produce a substantially uniform distribution of the weight and will overcome the uneven distribution which so commonly re sults from the overhanging location of the served. Axis of generator shaft is always parallel to the axis of driving axle and substantially equi-distant therefrom.

The statement that the dynamo supporting frame (Which projects into the car bodyand supports the dynamo within the car body) is carried by one of the car trucks, is made in a broad sense. Otherwise stated, a dynamo supporting frame mounted directly on the truck frame or mounted directly on the axles of the car, would be Within the scope of this statement.

What claim is:

1. The combination with a car having swiveled trucks, of a dynamo located within the car body and supported from one of the swiveled trucks thereof, and connections for driving said dynamo from a truck axle, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a car having swiveled trucks, of a dynamo supporting frame carried by one of said swiveled car trucks and projecting into the car body through openings in the bottom thereof, a dynamo supported within the car body, by said supporting frame, and means for driving said dynamo from one of the truck axles, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a car having cen ter sills extending longitudinally of the floor of the body thereof, dynamo supporting legs or brackets carried by one of the trucks and extending into the car body through openings in thefloor thereof on opposite sides of the center sills thereof, and a dynamo supported within saidcar body, by said supporting legs or brackets, and overlyingthe said center sills, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a car having swiveled trucks, of a dynamo supporting frame carried by one of the swiveled trucks of said car and projecting into the body thereof, a dynamo supported within the car body, by said supporting frame, a pulley on the armature shaft of said dynamo, a pulley on one of the truck axles, a belt running over said pulleys, and a pair of vertically spaced idle guide pulleys carried by the truck frame, operative on the intermediate portion of said driving belt and arranged to compensate for vertical vibrations of said truck frame, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a car, of an arched dynamo supporting frame carried by one of the car trucks and projecting into the car body and spanning an intermediate portion of the car floor, a dynamo supported within the car body, by said supporting frame, and means for driving said dynamo from one of the axles of said car truck, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a car, of a dynamo supporting frame carried by one of the car trucks and projecting into the car body through the bottom thereof, a dynamo supported within the car body, by said frame, pulleys on the opposite ends of the armature shaft of said dynamo, a pair of pulleys carried by one of the axles of said truck, belts running over the alined pulleys on said axle and armature shaft, and intermediate belt guiding pulleys carried by said truck, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM J. BOHAN.

Witnesses:

MALIE HoEL, FRANK D. MERCHANT. 

